Home > Trip Reports > March 12 The Annihilation of the Great White North

March 12 The Annihilation of the Great White North

3/15/09
4539
9
Posted by Kyle Miller on 3/12/09 12:09pm
Today was one of those few Epic ski touring days in the Cascades this season and the masses were all out in the B.C. of Crystal. Skin tracks and bootpacks were all over the Silver Basin from 3 way all the way to bear gap.  I was going solo so I didn't want to venture out too far so I stayed on the North facing slopes of silver basin within view of the resort.  I took the Traverse out to the King to get a vantage of what looked good and how I could best access the skin tracks. I decided a slow traverse East would allow for great lines while slowly getting closer to the resort area.  First was 3 way peak which was the most exposed  and technical then JBAS which had a steep boot pack to the summit. After that was Gunsight which has a destroyed skin track from bootpacking, then Dog legged chute which was accessed via Gunnbarrel with a steep boot pack up the gut, the Storm trooper/Black tusk which I slowly traversed to access bear gap and finished it off with Pickhandle basins nice wide open bowl. The north facing slopes were rather stable and in great condition with minimal sluff movement and the south facing slopes are Garbage from sun exposure. People were nailing some great lines for example 4 tracks going down Crystal Peaks north face and skin tracks are EVERYWHERE. If you can you should take advantage of tommorrow cause the weather is going to change soon. I didn't see any slab and the sluff was really minimal. Sadly alot of the skin tracks have now converted to bootpacks making skinning somewhat of a pain.





Kyle,

Very nice tour.  I kept looking towards Threeway and Dog leg as we were riding the lifts.  Those young legs covered a lot of mileage.  ;)

It was a perfect day to be in the mountains.

I followed a lot of that path, never has there been that much boot pack to and on ridges.............those snowboarders are dedicated.And they have to be exhausted.

author=Kyle Miller link=topic=12655.msg52747#msg52747 date=1236913767]
Skin tracks and bootpacks were all over the Silver Basin from 3 way all the way to bear gap.


It sounds like you were a day late on that tour Kyle.  Slacking?   ;)

i don't think i've ever seen a bootpacked skin track out there.... maybe folks are starting to get wise...

author=Snow Bell link=topic=12655.msg52767#msg52767 date=1236965906]
It sounds like you were a day late on that tour Kyle.  Slacking?   ;)

No way I dont think I could have done it if I was breaking trail  ;)
throughout the day I would run into random people and we would joke about THOSE DAMN SNOWBOARDERS and there bootpacking

Another version including the day before and way too many pictures
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2304283#post2304283

Nice dude, good day to be out riding.

Planned on doing Crystal Peak today, but it's been hit.  Damn!!!

Thanks for the beta.

Here are some pics from Crystal Peak...
Skied it on Tuesday and Wednesday with excellent conditions.
Stable with minimal sluff, zero avy debris in the run out, and face shots through the choke.

Reply to this TR

6135
march-12-the-annihilation-of-the-great-white-north
Kyle Miller
2009-03-12 19:09:27